Swiss Team Plans Solar-Powered Flight From California to New York

Photo: Solar Impulse

The Solar Impulse team has had a busy week in the U.S., but that hasn’t included the ’round-the-world flight they had hoped for by now. Instead, co-founders Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg have been meeting with government agencies, politicians and benefactors in hopes of setting up a California to New York flight with their solar-powered airplane, slated to take place next year.

The Switzerland-based team has the support of the Swiss government, and Ambassador Manuel Sager said the mountain nation is ready to help make the trans-continental U.S. flight possible.

“Switzerland is very proud to be a partner in the next endeavor of Solar Impulse,” Ambassador Sager said at an embassy event in Washington, D.C. “As a country we share the values of the project: technological innovation, competence and entrepreneurial expertise.”

The Solar Impulse team said they are excited to complete a flight in the birth nation of aviation. There aren’t a lot of details being released just yet, though they hope to make the flight in “early summer of 2013.”

The airplane has a wingspan of over 200 feet (more than a Boeing 787), but weighs about the same as a standard SUV. It has four, ten-horsepower electric motors that are powered by batteries and the solar cells that cover the top of the wings. With a cruise speed of 60-70 miles per hour, and just one seat, it’s not meant as rapid transportation.

They eventually plan to make an around-the-world flight using an updated, and larger solar powered airplane known as HB-SIB. The new model will have a roomier, pressurized cockpit allowing the pilot to nap, and will have a wingspan of more than 260 feet.

The team originally had hoped to make an around-the-world flight by 2013, but they are currently hoping for a 2015 flight. HB-SIB is currently under construction at Solar Impulse headquarters in Switzerland.